PHJ No 3 (35) 2022 – S. I. Grigoriev. “…The independence of the Tatars in Crimea is unreliable for us…”: when did St. Petersburg actually decide to annex Crimea to Russia?
The article analyzes the process of formation and subsequent changes in the views of Empress Catherine II and the top leadership of Russia on the “Crimean question” in the 1770s: from the desire to proclaim an independent state in Crimea (1769), through the approval of the actual protectorate of the Russian Empire over the Crimean Khanate (1777) — to the adoption of a strategic course for accession Crimea to Russia in the near future (1779).